World Cup 85 Starter Pack: Goats, Arson, and Friends!

[Mriin]

World Cup 85 hosts

The Merchant Republic of Mriin is a group of three islands east of the Calanian Wastelands in Atlantian Oceania. The nation is most notable for the three races that call it home, in descending order of uniqueness: Dryads, humanoid beings seemingly made of wood; Satyrs, humanoids that are easily recognizable for their colorful hues, tall stature, and goatlike features; and dragons, who are dragons. From the dense forests of Westhold to the bubbling sulfur flats of Seastone and the pristine beaches of Easthold, there’s sights to see no matter where you land on the isles. Partiers can enjoy a dazzling nightlife (well, on the latter two), historians can soak in the shocking true stories of local pirates, and everyone could spend days wandering Maal’s bazaars.

The user behind Mriin has hosted Cup of Harmony 58 and 74, AOCAF LVII, World Bowl XX, and was part of the WC82 panel.

Farfadillis is an island that defies expectations, which, as we've come to find out, is not necessarily a good thing. Located in southwestern Atlantian Oceania, Farfadillis is home to many biomes: from cold mountains, to lush forests, to inhospitable deserts. It's also home to a lot of ethnicities that have started disliking each other more and more recently. It's also home to Farves, who are infamously disorganized and prone to setting things on fire. What the island of Farfadillis is not home to - at least not anymore - is a functioning state. The biggest organization in the country is the FFFF, perhaps the most famous football federation in the Multiverse, which has decided to bid for the World Cup to show the Multiverse that Farfadillis is doing okay. All competitions hosted in Farfadillis have gone swimmingly, modulo arson, scheduling problems and at least one meteorite.

The user behind Farfadillis has hosted Baptisms of Fire 54 and 68, AOCAF Cup 38, Copa Rushmori 16 and Campionato Esportiva 5.

Cup of Harmony 77 hosts

Kelssek is a country of soaring mountains, vast wilderness, natural beauty, and frigid winters. Its population of over 153 million form a union of diverse cultures, but are generally characterized by an egalitarian and cosmopolitan ethos. As a leading tourist destination, Kelssek draws well-heeled sophisticates and grizzled adventure-seekers alike to its lively cities, unspoiled wilderness, organic local handcrafted unionized vineyards, and completely epic skiing and mountain resorts. Politically, Kelssek consists of a centralized federation of 12 provinces and one territory, governed as a republic under a system of parliamentary democracy. Its economy is largely composed of co-operative enterprises and companies directed by democratic workers’ councils.

Kelssek has excellent sporting and transportation infrastructure, and ample experience hosting the world’s largest sports events. These have included the 5th and 12th Summer Olympics (the latter together with Vekaiyu), the 4th Winter Olympics, World Cup 46 (co-hosted with Ad’ihan), the World Cup of Hockey (5 times), and Rugby World Cup (3 times).

Zwangzug is a country "known" for its idiosyncratic approach to football and life, with such "innovations" as goalkeeperless formations, a stadium-less club, overly-involved musical parodies, and bad math jokes, to say nothing of the constant board game allusions (chess related and otherwise).

Zwangzug's user has (co)hosted two World Cups, five Baptisms of Fire (most recently the previous cycle in BoF71), and a Cup of Harmony, plus some other stuff.

OOC
Scorinator: xkoranate, NSFS formula, with additive modifiers.
Format: No playoffs. Preferred format is 15 groups with top 2 qualifying for the World Cup.
Tiebreakers: 1. Points, 2. Goal difference, 3. Head-to-head points, 4. Head-to-head goal difference, 5. “Drawing of lots” (OOC: RP bonus)

Schedule:
Qualification will take a maximum of 24 RL days^[1] split between all four hosts with one matchday (MD) every ~24 hours. If more than 24 MDs are necessary, some days will be designated to have 2 MDs scorinated. If this happens, they will be spaced out, and will largely take place towards the middle of qualifications so as to preserve the suspense of the race for qualification at the end.

Carryover of RP bonus
To the World Cup finals: Up to 2 matchdays’ worth of RP bonus
To the Cup of Harmony: Up to 4 matchdays’ worth of RP bonus

[1] This is how long WC84 qualifiers took.

[The Sarian]

My question for the hosts: do you worry that having the (potential) 2MD scorinations concentrated at the start of the qualification will benefit high-ranking nations above actively RPing ones?

[Ethane]

My question for the hosts: do you worry that having the (potential) 2MD scorinations concentrated at the start of the qualification will benefit high-ranking nations above actively RPing ones?

Same concern; I'm not sure how much I like the idea of having 2 match days on 1 day because I believe it would devalue the RP contributions and quality regarding certain match days.

[Recuecn]

I agree that I would not like to see 2 matchdays on the same irl day. If it is deemed that qualifying may be too long otherwise (a point I disagree on, but I think I've experienced less burnout than others) then other qualifying formats should be considered.

It's also worth pointing out that both current bids mention the possibility of 2 MDs per day, so it doesn't make sense to single out one bid over the issue.

[Cassadaigua]

Technically, I have no issues with your bid.

But can I make a suggestion? Change the title of the topic to make it stand out more that this is a World Cup 85 bid. WC85 on the right makes it easy to overlook. The thread has been here about 20 hours and I have just noticed it now, and I have been to the forum several times in that time.

Maybe put WC85 on the left side of the title. Or it could just be me.

[Farfadillis]

My question for the hosts: do you worry that having the (potential) 2MD scorinations concentrated at the start of the qualification will benefit high-ranking nations above actively RPing ones?

Our reasoning was that as qualifiers go on, they become tenser both ICly and OOCly, so it would've been better to accumulate the 2MD days at the start. We hadn't considered your point, though, so, after discussing it, we've come to the conclusion that it'd be better if they happen around the middle of qualifiers.

It's worth noting that even in the worst scenarios, it'd amount to about 2 or 3 of these 2MD days. We know the community doesn't like it when qualifiers are too marathonic, and we felt this could be a good way to hard cap how long they are. However, we're not quite ready to go all the way with the double scorinations, so the idea is more of a contingency than anything else.

Technically, I have no issues with your bid.

But can I make a suggestion? Change the title of the topic to make it stand out more that this is a World Cup 85 bid. WC85 on the right makes it easy to overlook. The thread has been here about 20 hours and I have just noticed it now, and I have been to the forum several times in that time.

Maybe put WC85 on the left side of the title. Or it could just be me.

Mriin will get to that soon.

[Sarzonia]

Also count me as being a no vote on two matchdays per RL day. It doesn't give enough time for people to RP properly and could result in active RPers being sent packing before they really have a chance to get going.

I have a feeling I'll be voting to reopen bids at this rate.

[Northwest Kalactin]

Also count me as being a no vote on two matchdays per RL day. It doesn't give enough time for people to RP properly and could result in active RPers being sent packing before they really have a chance to get going.

I have a feeling I'll be voting to reopen bids at this rate.

I agree unless a host decides to change their scorination frequency we will probably re open bids.

[Mriin]

Also count me as being a no vote on two matchdays per RL day. It doesn't give enough time for people to RP properly and could result in active RPers being sent packing before they really have a chance to get going.

I have a feeling I'll be voting to reopen bids at this rate.

It'd be difficult for either of those things to happen when double matchdays would happen precisely once or twice throughout the entirety of qualifiers. Even a worst case scenario of 26 MDs (which covers us up to 210 entrants, compared to last cycles' 167) and two doubled-up matchdays, that's a whopping 22 days of individual matches left. Nobody is getting unfairly eliminated in that span and there is still abundant opportunities to write.

Technically, I have no issues with your bid.

But can I make a suggestion? Change the title of the topic to make it stand out more that this is a World Cup 85 bid. WC85 on the right makes it easy to overlook. The thread has been here about 20 hours and I have just noticed it now, and I have been to the forum several times in that time. :p

Maybe put WC85 on the left side of the title. Or it could just be me.

Hey now, the other bid had their 85 just as far to the right!

[Vilita]

Also count me as being a no vote on two matchdays per RL day. It doesn't give enough time for people to RP properly and could result in active RPers being sent packing before they really have a chance to get going.

I have a feeling I'll be voting to reopen bids at this rate.

I disagree entirely. 2 MD's per RL day doesn't disadvantage anyone and is absolutely no different than having 1MD per RL day other than the number of total days. We used to have Cups with 10MD's of qualifying. Now we are talking 18+ MD's of Qualifying the last Cup was 20 RL Days with breaks meaning we were doing qualifying for over 3 weeks. These hosts are just saying they aren't afraid of doing 2MD's per scorination on select days *if it benefits the format* - if the format only required 10 MD's of qualifying they aren't proposing cutting that to 5 MD's just because. They are talking about taking an 18+ MD qualification and translating that back down to about 12 RL days of scorination

Personally, I would go one step further. (On the assumption that the number of MD's required is greater than 14) I would dive head first into the proposal, commit to 2 MD's per scorination for every MD until the final 2 MD's of scores. Just post scores every other MD. This would be a great step forward in ensuring everyone gets a chance to RP, moving to 48 hours between every cutoff just like the World Cup Proper. Considering the high number of MD's and the exponentially astronomical increase in the expected baseline quality of an RP from where the World Cup originated, increasing the time between cutoffs and limiting the number of cutoffs is the only way to help level the playing field from an RP perspective.

[Commonwealth of Baker Park]

Also count me as being a no vote on two matchdays per RL day. It doesn't give enough time for people to RP properly and could result in active RPers being sent packing before they really have a chance to get going.

I have a feeling I'll be voting to reopen bids at this rate.

I disagree entirely. 2 MD's per RL day doesn't disadvantage anyone and is absolutely no different than having 1MD per RL day other than the number of total days. We used to have Cups with 10MD's of qualifying. Now we are talking 18+ MD's of Qualifying the last Cup was 20 RL Days with breaks meaning we were doing qualifying for over 3 weeks. These hosts are just saying they aren't afraid of doing 2MD's per scorination on select days *if it benefits the format* - if the format only required 10 MD's of qualifying they aren't proposing cutting that to 5 MD's just because. They are talking about taking an 18+ MD qualification and translating that back down to about 12 RL days of scorination

Personally, I would go one step further. (On the assumption that the number of MD's required is greater than 14) I would dive head first into the proposal, commit to 2 MD's per scorination for every MD until the final 2 MD's of scores. Just post scores every other MD. This would be a great step forward in ensuring everyone gets a chance to RP, moving to 48 hours between every cutoff just like the World Cup Proper. Considering the high number of MD's and the exponentially astronomical increase in the expected baseline quality of an RP from where the World Cup originated, increasing the time between cutoffs and limiting the number of cutoffs is the only way to help level the playing field from an RP perspective.

Indulge me for a minute, b/c I like this idea. Let me see if I'm getting exactly what Vil is saying correct.

Mon-Fri post qualifying draw--RP
Sat--MD1-2 scores
Sun--RP
Mon--MD3-4 scores
Tue--RP
Wed--MD5-6 scores
Thur--RP
Fri--MD7-8 scores
Sat--RP
Sun--MD9-10 scores
Mon--RP
Tues--MD11-12

We're up to 11 RL days and we've done 12 MD, 6 days of no pressure to throw something up quick just to make bonus for the day.
(and I've walked away and come back thinking that I'm being liberal with the period between a Quali draw and the first MD--you could make the first scorination on Thurs instead of Sat.)

Isn't the standard format that we use--i.e., UEFA Champs/WCQ for UEFA--done on the basis of 2 MD over a 5-7 day period?

Feel free to dissent...

[Savojarna]

I agree with BP. I'm a roleplayer that is quite vulnerable to short-term burnouts (as in, I often lose my inspiration and motivation for a specific tournament) and it doesn't happen because the tournament is long. My most inspired one has probably been my first WGPC, which takes about four to five months. What does make me burn is when the MD's are too close together - i.e. daily MD's for a long time - because then I progressively miss more and more of them, and it all feels like I am constantly RPing what happened two games ago. This forces me to either RP short-term based on which day I happen to have time and energy on (which is unsatisfying, because it prevents longer arcs and reduces me to match reports), or to RP things not directly connected to the competition at all. I'd actually prefer 2 MD's every 48 hours over one daily MD.

[PotatoFarmers]

I pretty much like the idea of 2 MDs per scorination, provided the RP bonuses are adjusted accordingly. We don't have to do it every Matchday. Not just split up the ones at the end, but I feel the start too because the start is where we start to see the new nations' RP style and also give everyone some time to accumulate their bonus. From someone who did the last cycle as their first cycle, I definitely found it tiring to RP all the matchdays and find the suggestions provided by the host to be a reasonable suggestion.

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

Posting my reaction IC, because I can see RP opportunities for my nation in one key part of the bid

The biggest organization in the country is the FFFF, perhaps the most famous football federation in the Multiverse

The Holy Empire Football Association objects to this assertion.

The Holy Empire Football Association also objects to the lack of a firm statement from the potential hosts over whether the addictive performance-enhancing substance marketed by the rogue narcostates of Vilita and Turori as 'Cocoa-bo' would be banned if they win the rights to host the next World Cup.

The Holy Empire Football Association has no objections, however, on the substance of the bid. Since time is frequently non-linear in the Holy Empire anyway, we see no reason to object to holding two matchdays simultaneously; this would cause our squad no serious issues, and we can simply arrange to be in two places at once.

[Banija]

Although I am generally not a fan of 2 MDs per RL day, I do like to appreciate the controls put on this bid to avoid that.

Once you've hit 24 MDs, you're almost guaranteed to have burnout. You're almost talking an entire month at that point. That's burnout for RPers, and even with 4 hosts, that's burnout for hosts too. So yes, acknowledging that and trying to prevent that burnout is something that is appreciated on my end.

[95X]

95X sits down, reads the World Cup 85 host bids, gets to this one and decides to outline his reading process, my reading process in brackets…

[Details, pleasantries, normal and customary things…]
OOC
Scorinator: xkoranate, NSFS formula, with additive modifiers.
Format: No playoffs. [95X's reaction: ]
…
[The rest of the bid…]

Either give us this bid, or give us re-opened nominations!
95X submits ballot, sits down and goes back to what he was doing.

[Legalese]

Will the hosts consider uneven groups? Considering that there's such a long wait between cups, it seems like it'd be a disservice to the community to leave off folks who signed up before the cup started, and then have to wait months to see some action.

Okay, I may have a minor stake in this one.

[Mriin]

Will the hosts consider uneven groups? Considering that there's such a long wait between cups, it seems like it'd be a disservice to the community to leave off folks who signed up before the cup started, and then have to wait months to see some action.

Okay, I may have a minor stake in this one.

While we'd love to see you back in action, Legal, we're a wee bit late in the process to be shaking up the format. It's entirely possible we reach 197 signups, however, which we can accommodate as a 15x13 format.

[Rea San Vegas]

Would it be possible to still enter the cup

[Zwangzug]

Would it be possible to still enter the cup

Unfortunately not. You can follow along by reading RPs here to get a feel for how it works. Keep your eye on the subforum, there will be signups for other tournaments eventually!

[Northwest Kalactin]

Hey, a question for Kel and Zwang, I asked this same question to the other bid so I’ll ask it to you:
Will there be a RPing requirement for qualifying?

[Legalese]

Now that this is a contested bid, seems worth inquiring: Zwang/Kelssek, what's your plan/proposed format for the Cup of Harmony? Do you have a number of teams in mind that would be the maximum you'd enter? If not, what standard are y'all planning to use to determine who gets an invite? Any deviations in scorination/tiebreakers/RP bonus from the World Cup side of the bid that we should know about?

[Kelssek]

1. There's a one RP requirement in the WCC Constitution. That said, we will have more restrictive criteria than the constitutional minimum, given the high participation level this cycle.

2. We will follow the same technical details and tiebreakers as the WC.

3. Maximum of 64, but the actual number will probably less than that. It will be the usual group stage leading to either 16 or 32 teams advancing to knockouts. If we have more than 42 teams, which is the number of participants in the last CoH, we will have a round of 32 as the first knockout round.